do birds help plants grow

6 Ways Birds Can Help Your Garden

There are many ways different birds can improve your garden. Even though not all birds will be welcomed as assistance in the same manner, birds can offer

Many birds eat a range of insects, including larvae and grubs, spiders, aphids, crickets, earwigs, gnats, grasshoppers, mosquitoes, and Japanese beetles. When bug-munching birds are welcome in the garden, you won’t need toxic chemicals or other harmful control methods to keep insects from devastating your flowers, foliage, and produce. Thrushes, thrashers, warblers, flycatchers, bluebirds, robins, cardinals, jays, swallows, martins, and many other birds can easily provide natural pest control.

Unwanted rodents that gnaw on fruits, vegetables, bulbs, and plants and disturb planted beds include mice, gophers, voles, rats, chipmunks, and squirrels. These animals can completely destroy a garden or landscape. However, backyard raptors will gladly hunt these animals as prey, drastically lowering their populations. There won’t be a need for messy traps or rodenticides because hawks, kestrels, and owls are skilled hunters that will assist in controlling these undesirable small mammals.

Better pollination of blooms will result in larger, more vibrant flowerbeds. You’ll notice increased yields from your fruit trees, berry bushes, and vegetable garden. The most common pollinators are bees and butterflies, but a variety of birds can also disperse pollen and increase garden productivity. A valuable service to all gardeners, hummingbirds, orioles, sunbirds, bulbuls, and white-eyes are excellent pollinators.

You don’t have to spend hours pulling unwanted plants from your garden or applying harsh herbicides to keep them under control. Rather, weeds can be avoided by seed-eating birds thanks to their enormous appetites. As they eat natural seeds found in the garden, finches, quail, towhees, sparrows, and doves will all help minimize the growth of weeds. They will not only eat seeds that have fallen, but they will also pluck seeds directly from the plants.

Reduced soil compaction, increased root growth, and improved air and water availability for plant roots are all benefits of aerated soil. This supports stronger, larger, and healthier plants. In addition to helping manage insect populations, birds that peck or scratch the ground in search of insects also contribute to soil aeration. Aerators such as starlings, jays, grackles, robins, sparrows, and ibises are beneficial to gardeners.

Fertilizing the garden adds essential nutrients to the soil. As a result, plants receive the right nutrition, and birds’ droppings naturally fertilize the plants. Nitrogen and phosphorus, two essential nutrients for strong plants, are abundant in bird feces. Even though a few songbirds won’t be able to fertilize a whole garden, the plants will make excellent use of all the excrement they leave behind.

You have to make birds feel at home in your garden if you want to reap the full benefits of their presence. They will come by frequently and spend a lot of time with your plants in return.

• Place a bird bath next to your garden, or even better, in the rows of your garden, in your berry patch, or in your flowerbed. When birds see the water’s sparkles, they will immediately fly to the garden. Any splashes they make while bathing can aid in hydrating surrounding plants.

• Use tiers of plants or areas resembling thickets to give your garden a more organic appearance. If birds perceive a safe haven, they will be more at ease and inclined to remain in the vicinity. A severely trimmed garden will increase the sense of vulnerability and threat for birds.
• Include areas for the birds to eat close to the garden, such as extra feeders or plants meant just for them. When there are more food sources available, more birds will help tend to the garden by enjoying the bounty.
• Provide safe places for birds to raise their families in your yard, such as birdhouses, platforms for nesting, and naturally occurring areas like thorny patches or hollow trees. Young birds will eat insects with great appetites, and their parents will use your garden to provide for that need.
• Discourage raccoons, snakes, and outdoor cats that pose a threat to birds. By using baffles, you can deter these intruders from approaching nests and feeders, protecting the birds and encouraging them to stay close.
• Make efforts to draw in a diverse range of avian species. To attract more species to your yard, provide a variety of food options in several bird feeders, bird baths at varying heights, birdhouses for various bird species, and other options.

The more variety in your backyard flock, the more assistance birds will give to your garden, and the greater the benefits of their cooperation throughout the growing season. Your birds and your garden will thank you!.

Birds Who Plant Trees

Forrest. Courtesy of Arnaud Mesureur, Unsplash

Even though roughly 50% of the planet’s land mass is still covered in forest, less than half of the world’s trees have disappeared since humans first learned to use an axe, and we will eventually need them back. Rewilding is thought to be essential to this, and it entails the assistance of our assiduous avian friends.

In 2015, a British ecologist named Thomas Crowther rallied a group of people at Yale University in Connecticut using satellite imaging technology, and they physically counted the number of trees in specific US regions.

After superimposing those regions on corresponding regions throughout the world, Crowther and his colleagues came to the conclusion that there are about 3 trillion trees on Earth. Although this appears to be encouraging, the study also discovered that the number of trees worldwide has decreased by 2046% since the dawn of human civilization.

The world’s forest ecosystems are vital to its biodiversity, but they are seriously threatened.

Field tree. Courtesy of JuergenPM, Pixabay.

Approximately 15 billion trees are being taken down annually, but only 5 billion are being planted again. If we carry on in this manner, there won’t be any trees left at all in 300 years due to the net loss of 10 billion. Although it may seem far off, that isn’t the case, especially when considering how ecosystems are currently struggling.

Following the findings of Crowther’s reputable study, numerous nations have pledged to plant millions of trees. But it’s not just the quantity – it’s which types. There is still a great deal of research to be done on how to accomplish this enormous task: should we plant billions of saplings, promote passive regeneration, or do both at once?

The wood for the trees

Crowther’s paper and subsequent research have morphed over the years intoRestor, an open-source platform which aims to connect the world’s global reforestation movements, and, partnered with Google’s mapping technology, gain deeper understanding of the Earth’s soils, fungi, carbon cycle and forest inhabitants, and their roles in maintaining the crucial balance everything needs.

Many of those occupants are, as we all know, birds, and their continued existence in the forests is crucial. Since they are unable to travel great distances on their own, plants depend on the wind, water, and those species that are migratory for their propagation.

Since birds can travel great distances, anywhere from a few hundred meters to thousands of miles, they are basically plants’ best friends.

It is very difficult to quantify the amount of seed dispersion by birds on a global scale, but studies conducted locally have estimated that birds account for slightly less than half of the life of new plants; one study conducted in Brazil found that more than 20 70% of plants that produce flowers rely on birds to disperse their seeds.

A blackbird standing on a fallen tree in the woods. Courtesy of Philip Myrtorp, Unsplash.

A four-hectare plot of land known as Monks Wood was last harvested of barley in 1961 and left fallow in a remote area of England. This area was next to a former biological research facility, whose curators chose to carry out a small experiment of their own and then just watch to see what transpired.

This barren patch of stubble turned into dense shrubland after 15 years, and field maple, ash, and oak with closed canopies appeared there after 50 years.

After sixty years, the result is a woodland with multiple layers of different tree and shrub species as well as deadwood, offering the ideal complexity of a habitat that supports a variety of organisms, including fungi, mammals, birds, and garden warblers and nuthatches, which nest throughout the ground layer, understorey, and tree canopy.

FAQ

Are birds good for plants?

Do birds chirping help plants grow?

What are two ways birds help plants?

Why are birds important to gardens?